1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video recorder to be connected to a DV camcorder via an IEEE 1394 serial bus.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to connect a DV (Digital Video) camcorder via an IEEE (Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers) 1394 serial bus to a video recorder such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) recorder or a hard disk drive recorder, and to dub stream data (photographed data), recorded on and reproduced from a DV (Digital Video) tape in the DV camcorder, onto a recording medium such as a DVD or a hard disk in the video recorder. The following describes an example of the dubbing process in the case where the video recorder is a DVD recorder.
First, a user connects a DV camcorder with a DV tape to a DVD recorder by an IEEE 1394 serial bus cable. Then, the user selects dubbing (recording) from a setting menu, and presses a decision key to start the dubbing process. In response to the operation of the user, the DVD recorder sends a reproduction start command to the DV camcorder via the IEEE 1394 serial bus, whereby the dubbing starts in which the DV camcorder starts reproducing the DV tape, while at the same time the DVD recorder starts recording. Thus, after connecting the DV camcorder to the DVD recorder via the IEEE 1394 serial bus, the user is not required to manually operate the DV camcorder to start reproduction, or manually operate the DVD recorder to start recording in synchronization with the start of the reproduction, thereby improving the convenience in handling in this respect.
Furthermore, a DVD recorder connected to a DV camcorder via an IEEE 1394 serial bus has an additional convenient function. More specifically, assume that video information (video data) recorded on the DV tape contains information which is unwanted or does not have to be dubbed (such information unwanted for dubbing being hereafter referred to as “dubbing-unwanted information” or simply as “unwanted information”) such as commercial information. In such case, a user first commands the DV camcorder from the DVD recorder to reproduce the video information before starting dubbing, and then view and check the reproduced video information on a liquid crystal display of the DV camcorder so as to check or identify the unwanted information. The user then operates a remote control to command the DVD recorder to store a start point and an end point of the unwanted information, in which the start and end points of the unwanted information are to be used in subsequent dubbing to prevent the unwanted information from being dubbed. By commanding the DVD recorder connected to the DV camcorder to perform dubbing after the above process, it is possible to dub the video information on the DV tape automatically or semi-automatically excluding (removing) the unwanted information (such automatic or semi-automatic dubbing function being hereafter referred to as “unwanted information-excluded dubbing”), thereby dubbing the wanted or essential information in the video information.
As described above, the system formed by the video recorder (DVD recorder) and the DV camcorder connected to each other via an IEEE 1394 provides improved convenience in handling, and thus can significantly reduce laborious work of the user. However, the system still suffers inconvenience. Specifically, the user may be uncertain in the actual dubbing as to whether or not the unwanted information which the user itself has commanded is properly set, after the user has checked, identified and commanded it using the function of the “unwanted information-excluded dubbing” as described above.
This is because, even though the user itself thought that the user properly input a command to the video recorder to exclude e.g. commercial information, there is a possibility that the user may not have properly set the start point and the end point of the unwanted information, so that the video recorder may actually store data area, including but beyond the commercial information, as data area to be excluded in the actual dubbing. If so, by viewing the video images recorded by dubbing, the user will find data missing in parts of data area which should contain the essential information (mainly the parts before and after the commercial information), so that the user is required to do the dubbing again. If the recording medium (disc) in the video recorder is e.g. a DVD-R (Recordable) which is write-once type, such recording medium containing improper data becomes a waste.
This problem may be solved by reproducing, before actual dubbing, the video information to be dubbed (namely the essential video information other than the unwanted information which the user has input a command to exclude) so as to display, on the liquid crystal display, the reproduced information for checking by the user. However, this causes further inconvenience in that it takes a significantly long time to reproduce the video information other than the unwanted information, because the unwanted information such as commercial or news program which the user commands to exclude is usually short.